The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a council tax error because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council delayed providing information about a council tax mistake. Mrs X wants the Council to waive the outstanding council tax.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Mrs X to comment on a draft of this decision.
My assessment
In November Mrs X received a council tax bill for £154 and in December for £159. In January the Council sent a bill for £91. The changes were due to changes in Mrs X’s council tax support (CTS).
There was a problem with the Council’s software in February which meant it wrongly assessed CTS awards. This led to the Council producing an incorrect council tax bill in February which showed Mrs X had a credit of £511. Mrs X claimed the credit as a refund which the Council sent to a few days later.
On 24 February the Council became aware of the error. It reassessed the CTS award, using the correct information, and sent Mrs X a revised bill showing she owed £550. The Council did not ask Mrs X to return the refund because it was reflected in the revised bill. Since then the Council has issued a further ten bills. The current position is that Mrs X owes £426.
Mrs X says the Council did not explain what had happened until June. She says it has affected her mental health and she wants the council tax waived.
The Council made an error but this has not caused an injustice such that an investigation is required. The Council identified the mistake after a few days and corrected it. The revised bill showed Mrs X owed £550 and Mrs X could have used the £511 that had been refunded in error to help pay that bill. I appreciate Mrs X may have felt frustrated by not knowing for a few months what had happened, but this does not represent sufficient injustice to require an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman